For many chefs, a Michelin star is the ultimate accolade, recognition that can define a career. Ireland first joined the guide in 1974 and today boasts 17 one-star and five two-star establishments between North and South, not bad for a country of this size. But while there are plenty of places for ambitious Irish chefs to cut their teeth at home, a big part of the development of Ireland’s Michelin story is how much our chefs love to travel, soaking up skills, craft and discipline in starry kitchens abroad. With more than 3,000 starred restaurants across 30 countries, it’s no surprise then to find Irish talent in some of the best diningrooms around the globe.
Chor-Fai Shek, 30, from Cookstown, Co Tyrone
In Hong Kong
Three Michelin stars marks the top of the game, and starting your career at that level sets the bar high. But that’s how it began for Chor-Fai Shek. His parents have had a Chinese takeaway in Cookstown for more than 40 years, so food was always part of their life, but it was a family trip to London, while still in school doing A-levels, that introduced him to the world of Michelin fine dining. The family ate at three-star Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and discovered that the then chef patron Clare Smyth was also from the North. “Something clicked,” says Shek.
He wrote to her asking for work experience, did a trial, and was offered a three-year apprenticeship. He moved to London and stayed with the company for seven years. “It was a lot of pressure, hard graft, but I’m really happy I did it.”
Next stop was Tokyo, drawn there by Daniel Calvert, the first British chef to win three stars outside the UK, for Sézanne.
RM Block
“I packed my bags and moved there in 2022. It was a culture shock; there wasn’t much English spoken.” After a year, he moved on to work in Hong Kong with chef Jeston Chua, recently finishing a two-month pop-up in Taipei, and is now back in Hong Kong.
Christina Blevins, 28, from Lurgan, Co Armagh
In London
Christina Blevins grew up in Lurgan, Co Armagh and began her cooking career with Simon Toye at Deanes Meat Locker in Belfast. Chasing Michelin stars wasn’t on the agenda at first. “I wasn’t sure it was the right fit for me, I had doubts about my own capabilities.”
That changed in 2015, on a trip to London, when she trialled at Little Social, Jason Atherton’s Mayfair bistro. “It was pivotal,” she says. “It gave me the determination to pursue the path I’m on now.” Then she joined the aforementioned trailblazing chef Clare Smyth at her three-star restaurant Core, staying for seven years. “I learned a lot there. I admire and aspire to the level of skill and dedication Clare has.”
Last year, Blevins returned to work for Atherton, this time as head chef at Row on 5, his signature new London opening with executive chef Spencer Metzger. Three months in, they earned a Michelin star. Blevins really enjoys the style of cooking at the restaurant. “We use lots of premium British seasonal ingredients and blend classical British techniques with strong Japanese influences,” she says. As for working at this level: “It’s a great team dynamic. I appreciate the relentless pursuit of perfection.”
David Condon, 29, from Maynooth, Co Kildare
In Barcelona
For Maynooth, Co Kildare, native and football fan David Condon, working in a Michelin-starred kitchen felt like aiming for the Champions League. “I see kitchen teams like sports teams. I love the camaraderie, how everyone works together every day. But I always wondered what it’s like at the top level, like FC Barcelona.”
After finishing a professional cookery plc in Dunboyne, Co Meath, Condon travelled for a few years before returning to Ireland, landing a job at Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel under chef Garry Hughes. Hughes encouraged him to enter the Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year competition. “Putting yourself out there was nerve-racking. I never expected to get to the final. The confidence that gave me was immense. It made me reach out to high-level restaurants and try to get a foot in the door.”
That door opened in Barcelona. After applying to every Michelin-starred spot in the city, ABaC, a three-star restaurant led by Jordi Cruz, gave him a chance. He spent three years there, immersed in high-pressure creativity. “Every day was different”, he says, with non-stop new techniques and a constantly evolving menu. He says Cruz could hand him a napkin with a new idea during service: “Then you’ve got a new challenge added to your day. It’s fun; it keeps things exciting.”
Now, Condon has moved to Disfrutar as chef de partie. Another Barcelona three-star, voted The World’s Best Restaurant in 2024, it could easily be considered the cooking equivalent of football’s Champions League.
Claire O’Halloran, 37, from Navan, Co Meath
In Stockholm
It was during her time studying culinary arts at DIT (now TU Dublin) that Claire O’Halloran first caught the fine-dining bug. She was part of what she calls “The Famous Class” – her classmates included Irish Times contributor Mark Moriarty, Holly Dalton, Cúán Greene and Scéal Bakery’s Charlotte Leonard-Kane and Shane Palmer. “My career really took off from being in college, surrounded by all that natural talent. We all learned from each other. I feel I sort of landed into ambition.”
Her first kitchen job was at the newly opened Pig’s Ear on Nassau Street in Dublin, which she calls “life-changing”, particularly because a colleague there moved to Stockholm to work with acclaimed chef Mathias Dahlgren, planting a seed. O’Halloran went over to do a stage (internship) and fell in love with the city, landing a job at the one-star Operakällaren. She eventually went on to work with Mathias Dahlgren, who had two Michelin-starred restaurants. She also trained with chef Saori Ichihara, celebrated for Japanese fine dining, and even opened her own place serving modern Irish food.
[ Michelin-starred restaurants in Ireland, 2025: The complete guideOpens in new window ]
Most recently, she was sous chef at Ergo, which won a Michelin star within a year of opening. It’s been intense, O’Halloran says, “a rollercoaster couple of years”, so now she’s looking to take a step back from fine dining and has taken a role cooking at Stockholm’s famous Fotografiska museum, where the cooking will be a bit more chilled. “I’m really interested in their sustainability and how they run things.”
Eoghan Coady, 36, from Blanchardstown, Dublin
In Copenhagen
How does somebody end up kitchen manager at two-star Noma, one of the most famous restaurants in the world? For Eoghan Coady, it was almost accidental. He studied anthropology and taught in Germany before a friend suggested a job at Dublin’s Pearl Brasserie. “Pretty fast, I discovered I felt at home in the kitchen. It was the first time in my professional life where I felt excited to go to work.”
He went on to work at Locks Brasserie before heading to Copenhagen in 2015, landing a role at one Michelin-starred Studio with Torsten Vildgaard, “after pestering him on Instagram”. The time there was defining, he says. “I feel like I knew nothing before working for him.” In 2018, he moved to Noma, a place on his wishlist since reading René Redzepi’s book Time and Place. He was working as a sous chef, but later shifted to kitchen manager to balance family life. He says it’s a very wide-ranging role, from office work to foraging, to meeting suppliers, “like seeing sea urchins in Norway or our fishmonger in Tsukiji Market, Tokyo.”
Coady loves the culture of Noma. “It’s always changing, nobody rests on their laurels. Noma has never played it safe.” The food has evolved, he says, but threads such as preservation, fermentation and wild foods remain. Coady says the Noma drive to maintain high standards has continued, but the environment “has become softer and more compassionate over the years”.
Tadhg Lennon, 26, from Glasnevin, Dublin
In London
Dubliner Tadhg Lennon never set out to chase stars, but when you work with the mentors he has had, ending up in a starred kitchen might just have been inevitable. He started cooking at 18 with a job at Dublin’s Coppinger Row under the late chef Ed Daly. “He made me really fall in love with cooking and think, okay, I want to do this for the rest of my life. He was very good to me and got the ball rolling for me in London.” Daly introduced him to chef Robin Gill, and Lennon moved to London to work at Gill’s new restaurant, Darby’s.
Back in Dublin, Lennon spent time at Michelin-starred Chapter One under Eric Matthews, before returning to London to join Gill again. Then he landed a role with Patrick Powell at Allegra and later at the Midland Grand, building up quite the CV of hot openings. “I think I’ve always been attracted to whatever is making noise. I got lucky with the places and people I‘ve worked with.”
Now Lennon is sous chef at Trinity in Clapham, a Michelin-starred restaurant that chefs love, proof that wisely choosing your kitchens and mentors can really shape your cooking.
He credits his mentors as key to his progression. “They’ve all been trained classically French. Robin [Gill] was with Raymond Blanc, Eric [Matthews] was with Phil Howard, Harry [Kirkpatrick at Trinity] was at Claridges and Per Se, Patrick [Powell] worked at L’Ecrivain with Derry Clarke and with Anthony Demetre for a long time.”
